A+E Interactive: The Sims 3 Hands-On preview

“A huge thing we wanted to do is to move past peeing because in Sims one and Sims 2 if you remember you’re Sims constantly had to pee,” Rodiek said. “They always had to sleep. They always had to eat. You were like ugh. I want to do cool stuff. I want to go on a date. I want to have kids. I want to do what’s interesting to me. I wanted to be a world famous painter. I don’t want to worry about peeing. And so we try to do that and move up Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

“It’s less about making sure your Sims has to pee and more about what’s interesting and special for your Sims. It’s about what kind of story you wan to tell with your Sims.”

That’s what led the team to moodlets, which are like the Sims’ thoughts. It’s the one bar that players will now have to worry about. The moodlet bar basically shows the Sims, well, mood. Putting him or her in positive positions will boost it up and make it go higher so that you can benefit from perks called Lifetime Rewards. If the Sim is in a negative position, that mood meter will go down.

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